Two pilgrims die of cardiac arrest

Devadas, 40, son of Kesavan, Thamarasserkulam, Chittur, Palakkad district; and C.A.Hariharan, 55, of Cheeraparambil house at Elankunnappuzha in Ernakulam district died of cardiac arrest at Sabarimala on Monday.

It was taken to Palakkad in an ambulance, Mr. Damodaran said. He was an Excise Department officer at Nenmara in Palakkad. Hariharan fainted near the Valiyanadappanthal at the Sannidhanam. He died at the nearby government dispensary.

Volunteers of the ABASS stretcher unit shifted the body to Pampa. He was a junior superintendent at the Elankunnapuzha panchayat office, sources said. With this, the number of cardiac casualties at Sabarimala touched six after the annual pilgrimage started on November 17.